Her Majesty The Queen.

people . She was beloved as no other Sovereign has ever been beloved , because she held it to be her chief business to enter full y into the spirit of her subjects , rejoicing with them in their joys and sympathising with them in their griefs . For years

past , indeed ever since her own great sorrows overtook her , she has lived and reigned so entirel y in the hearts of her people that now that , in the ordinary course of nature , she has passed aw ' ay , after a life which has been unusually protracted , and a reign more glorious than has been known in the annals

of this country , the nation seems to have been bereft of a great part of itself . The bulk of her subjects have known no other Sovereign , and the sum and substance of their knowledge ol her is just this—that no monarch ever could have

been regarded with greater loyally and allection , because it is difficult , if not impossible , to imagine anyone that could better have deserved such lovalty . But if the Ql'EKN herself has gone

hence to be no more seen , the memory of her many womanly and queenly virtues , the influence for good she exercised in all directions , the great pride she took in the development of her Empire , all these remain to us as a precious possession to be

guarded bv us and our descendants for as long as there shall beg a British Empire to reverence and respect the memory of thefe greatest and best of all our British Sovereigns . May the Greats Architect of the Universe sustain her children and her children ' s ? children in this lime of their great bereavement ! §

The Late Queen Victoria.

THE LATE QUEEN VICTORIA .

Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen , who died at if Osborne House , Isle of Wig ht , on Tuesday , the 22 nd instant , 'J in the 82 nd year of her age and the 64 th of her reign , was theft onl y child of U . K . II . Edward , Duke of Kent , fourth son of his '? Majesty King George 111 ., who was born in 1767 , and died on fi

the 23 rd January , 1820 , onl y a few days before the King , his , 1 father ; and U . S . 11 . Victoria Mary Louisa , daughter of Francis , J [ Duke ol Saxc-Coburg-Saallield , and widow ol Charles Louis , !{ Prince of Leiningen . Her Majesty was born at Kensington ; j Palace on the 24 II 1 Mav , 1819 , and on the death of her uncle , William IV ., on the 2 olh of June , 1837 , was proclaimed Oueenl

of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . She wasijj crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 28 H 1 June , 183 S , and on | the 10 th February , 1840 , married Prime Albert of Saxe-Coburgf-Gotha , bv whom sin- had issue four sons and five daughters , | of whom the Prince ot Wales , now King , born 9 th November , if

18 41 , and the Duke of Connaught , born 1 st May , 1 S 50 , among ](¦ the former and ihe Empress Frederick of Germany ( Princess f Royal of Great Britain ) , born 21 st November , 1840 ; the Princess ^ Helena ( Princess Christian of Schleswig-I lolstein ) , born 25 th |; May , i 8 H (>; the Princess Louise , Duchess of Argyll , born | 18 th March , 1848 ; and the Princess Beatrice ( Princess Henrys of Baltenberg ) , horn 14 th April , 1 S 57 , among the daughters * still survive . In i 8 fn , her Majesty experienced the first great

sorrow of her life b y the death earl y in that year of her mother , the Duchess of Kent , in the 41 st year of her widowhood , while on the 141 I 1 December , her beloved husband , II . K . I I . ( he Prince Consort , died after only a short illness at Windsor Castle . Ten years later , her eldest son was stricken almost unto death b y the

satin ; dread maladv to which his illustrious father had succumbed . In 187 8 , on the anniversary of her father ' s death , died the Princess Alice , Grand Duchess of llesse . On the 281 I 1 Match , 188 4 , there died , at Cannes , her youngest son , Prince Leopold , Duke of Albany , while last year the Duke

of Saxe-Coburg-Gollia ( Duke ol Edinburgh in the peerage ol the United Kingdom ) , the Queen ' s second son , who was born the blh August , 18 44 , died on the 30 th July , iu . , within a week of completing his 50 th year . But the loss of these children are far from representing all the bereavements which it was the sad

fate of her Majesty to bear in ihe course of her long life . In j 888 the Empe' -or Frederick , lather of the present German Emperor , died . Another ol her sons-in-law , the Grand Duke

Louis ol I lesse , husband of Princess Alice , died 1 1 th March , I 8 IJ 2 , and Prince Henry ol Baltenberg , husband of tin Princess Beatrice , died on the _ <> t . h January , 1 N 90 . In addition , tlu-re have died among her grandchildren the

1 hike ol Clarence and Avondale on the 1 4 thJannury , 180 , 2 ; Prince Alln-d , onlv son ol the late Duke ol Saxe-Coluirg-Golha ; tnd Prince Christian Victor , elder son ol Prince and Princess

Christian of Schlesw ig-l lolstein , who fell a victim to enteric lever while serving with the army in Smith Afr ' u a . All these grievous losses among those nearest and dearest to her must have told heavily on her Majesty ' s strength , but she bore with them al .

The Late Queen Victoria.

t tjmost bravely , nor , as we state elsewhere , did she permit them to ] intervene between her and the strict performance of her duties a as Sovereign . Last year the stress caused bv the war in South I Africa , the death of her second son , the Duke Alfred of SaxejlCoburg-Gotha , and the serious illness of her eldest daughter SI • i Mined her sorely , and the wonder is that she should , at her f advanced age , have been able to endure such trials and for so

I long a time . a But these were her private sorrows , which , though grievous | to be borne , were never , as we have said , allowed to interfere 1 with Uic discharge of her public duties . There were , however , llimos during her reign when the cares of State must have

• jseriousl y taxed her strength , the most serious being the war I with Russia from 18 54 to 18 5 6 , the Indian Mutiny from 1 S 57 to 11858 , and the war which is , unfortunately , still raging in South flAfnca . There have also beer , the Af ghan and Sikh wars , the

wars with China and Japan , the troubles in Egypt , and the incessant li ghting on the north-west frontiers of India . Nor can the struggles among different European States , the disturbances

which at different times have broken out in those States , the terrible Civil War in the United States from 1 S 61 to 1865 , have done otherwise than cause the greatest anxiety to her Majesty as well as to the Ministers that were charged with the

adminis-»( ration of her Kingdom . On the other hand , there have been ^ compensations for all these cares and anxieties in the consolidation land extension of our colonies and possessions Abroad . In 11877 her Majesty was proclaimed at Delhi Empress of India ; ( 8 British and North America is now known-as the Dominion , sand is a large and flourishing community , which has at all Slimes been read y and willing to sacrifice life and treasure in II maintaining the Empire of the Queen . The several Australasian

EColonies , sundry of which had not been founded when she jjascended the throne , have just formed themselves into a

Comtjjmonwealth , and among the latest of her Majesty ' s acts was to Ssend a message of congratulation and good wishes to the | ( iovernor-Getieral of this newly-organised State . And all ^ through these years the commercial and industrial resources of Flier Empire have gone on increasing " by leaps and bounds " to

i ' an extent which not even the most sanguine among her people fcould have anticipated Similar progress has been made in ri < very branch of art and science , so that those who are old [ enough to remember what England was in the earl y " forties " v ' ean hardl y realise that the England of to-day is the same country . |

H Vet after all , the subject which most nearl y concerns us as rj Freemasons is the respect in which our late Sovereign has | jalways regarded our Society , nor , indeed , is this to be woniJdered at when we call to mind how intimate has been the con-;< nection of her Famil y with Masonry . From the day in 1737 ,

£ when her Majesty ' s great-grandfather , Frederick , Prince of a Wales , was initialed , till now , there has not been one generation Sjof the Royal Famil y which has not furnished members to the I Craft , George the Third ' s brothers of York , Cumberland , and iGloucester , if not George I'l . himself , were Masons ; six of

5 George 111 . ' s sons were rulers in our Society ; George , Prince of J Wales , afterwards George IV ., M . W . Grand Master of the I" Modern" Grand Lodge , 1 790 to 1813 , and Grand Patron

from the latter year till his death in 1 S 30 ; the Duke of York ; the Duke of Clarence , afterwards William IV ., and Grand Patron I , s ' . i (|— 37 : the Duke of Kent , Grand Master of the "Ancients " in 1813— . who . in conjunction with his brother , the Duke of Sussex , brought about the Union in that year of the rival

sections ol English Masonry , Ernest , Duke of Cumberland , subsequentl y King and Grand Master of Hanover ; and the Duke of Sussex , M . W . Grand Master , 1 S 13 till 1843 . The Queen ' s first cousin , George V ., the blind King of Hanover , was also a member and Grand Master in that State ,

while , as all our readers know , three of her Majesty ' s sons—( he Prince of Wales , now her successor on the throne , the Duke of Connaught , and the late Duke of Albany—and one of her grandsons in the direct line of descent—the late Duke of Clarence and Avondale—have all of them played a

more or less prominent part in the government of our Grand Lodge audits subordinate bodies . Nor was her Majesty content with this indirect association with Masonry through members of her family . On several occasions she in person received addresses from deputations of Grand Lodge ; she has been for

years a generous supporter of our Institutions ; while during her visit last year to the Irish capital not only did she receive an addiess from the Grand Lodge of Ireland , but she visited and inspected the Masonic Orphan Girls' School at Ball ' s Bridge .

. Now , alas ! this tie which united Masonry with the Queen has hi-en severed b y her death , and it onl y remains for us to revere her memory as one of the greatest and best of British Sovereigns , who was indeed the grandest of Patrons our Order has ever known .